This is where I would normally invite you to get cozy in the #vanlife of podcasting publications, but instead we’re doing an announcement. Read the “what, who, and how” below. I’m looking forward to getting to know lots of new podcasters this way!

Introducing “The Edit”

Getting meaningful, candid feedback on your podcast episodes is difficult, especially for indie podcasters working without professional teams behind them. In this new community from Timber, members and professionals will join to give each other feedback and support. We’re running this in a new subscriber-only area, called #the-edit, in the Timber Discord server. It’s here to help you improve your show with feedback that goes beyond “sounds great!”

How it works

After subscribing you’ll get access to a special area of the Timber Discord server. Once per month, you can drop up to one hour of unpublished or previously published audio into the channel. Then members and professionals leading each edit will dive in to comment and help.

We value participation that is encouraging, helpful, respectful, and 100 percent of the time coming from a place of loving podcasts and supporting creators.

Join for $20

Multidimensional feedback

We will listen with the following nine areas in mind and give you feedback on the ones most relevant to your work:

• Recording notes (any sound quality issues)

• Soundscape (notes on music, sound design, and aural feel)

• Personality (notes on host chemistry, humor, likability)

• Stickiness (what’s keeping listeners engaged and where listeners might lose you)

• Landmines (are there any no-nos like making blanket statements about a groups of people)

• Journalism notes (any journalistic concerns where fact checking or additional research might be suggested?)

• Story notes (how’s the storytelling? Is it immersive, shareable, can you follow it?)

• Format notes (intro/outro/sections sound good and make sense and fit?)

• Writing notes (if parts of the show are scripted, does the script need writing improvements?)

Monthly subscription

Join now, monthly, by clicking the Stripe payment button below. After signing up, you’ll be given instructions to access our member’s only channel.

Important: Once you pay, you’ll get an email from LaunchPass with instructions. If you get stuck in that process, just shoot us an email at support@timber.fm and we’ll help you in.

Join for $20

Meet the Timber Reviewers

Timber has gathered a group of professionals willing to offer their own time to help give your show a nudge in the right direction.

Shruti Ravindran—Writer and podcast producer. She’s written some of Timber’s most loved stories, and was a producer on Science Vs. at Gimlet.

Skye Pillsbury—Hot Pod contributor, former Inside Podcasting writer and podcast host.

Eric Johnson—Founder of podcast production house Bumblecast, host of Follow Friday, and award winning producer of Recode Decode.

Jenna Spinelle—Journalist, podcaster, and Penn State educator. Producer of Democracy Works, and writer of some of Timber’s most helpful podcasting guides.

PS.

If you haven’t heard of the concept of “the edit” before, listen to Jessica Abel describe it in this episode of Out on the Wire. Simply put, it’s a group meeting where everyone listens for ways to improve the first draft of a show and gives the show’s producer notes.

PPS.

We have a new episode of Timber—Stories for Podcasters today.

This is the origin story of the hit D&D actual-play podcast The Adventure Zone. It was written in summer 2020 by Shruti Ravindran, and much has happened with the McElroys and their juggernaut pod since then. But, if you haven't ever listened, this is a great intro, and if you already love it, you'll love reading Travis's thoughts on how the show went from a funny idea to a hit.

Here’s the apple podcasts link. And here’s a Spotify player:

Thanks for being here with me on this big announcement day! And thank you so much for your help, Shruti, Eric, Skye, and Jenna!

—Jon Christensen